Bleach 2: Ichigo Vs The First Soul Reaper
by DisgaeaLord
Summary: Takes place about two years after the war with Aizen. A mysterious person from the past has been reborn to take his vengeance on the land that betrayed him, and find the perfect vessle for his lost love. Who is this vessle, you ask? Orihime Inoue...
1. Chapter 1

**Time: 100,000 Years ago...**

_**The vast, barren night of the forest was all that remained of one's work. In the dark abyss of this forest, a man was running. Running, from the group of Soul Reapers that gave chase to him. The strange man in a black cloak looked back, noticing how the number of people that were chasing him nearly doubled in size. As he looked back ahead of him, his eyes widened as he saw the group of practically hundreds of shimigami that all glared at him as he tried to stop running. His feet skid across the ground, scattering dust and pebbles along with him. When he looked back, he saw the other group of shimigami standing there, all beginning to encircle him where he stood.**_

_**"You there!" The leader of the group shouted out, stepping away from the crowd. The strange man glared back at the leader, seeing how he started the whole chase. "By order of the Sieretai, you are to be sealed away from this world forever!" He shouted, pulling out his Zanpakto. As the man looked all around him, all shimigami that were in front of the circle pulled out their Zanpakto as well, then shoved them in the ground. His eyes widened as the ground below him began to glow a large light blue gleam, thrashing sparks around him from where he stood. As he tried to move, he realized he couldn't move his feet, as lightning spun around them. **_

_**"Move, get out of the way!" A child yelled, pushing his way out of the crowd. **_

_**"Who let him come here? Stop him!" The leader shouted. As commanded, every shimigami surrounding the boy grabbed him, keeping him from getting any closer. The boy struggled to break free of their grip, but it was to no use.**_

_**"Stop! Let me go!" The boy shouted. As the man looked back, he glared at the boy in anger. At the same time, his feet slowly began to descend into the ground. **_

_**"You traitor! How could you do this to me?" The man shouted, who was up to his knees in the ground at this point. The boy looked back at him, somewhat surprised and shock at his anger. **_

_**"I didn't mean too! It was just..." The boy started, before the leader of the group interrupted.**_

_**"It matters not. Your crimes against all souls around the living world are too serious to simply let you live." The man shouted. At this point, the strange man was finally half way into the ground.**_

_**"I will tell you all this just once! I will rise again, and when I do, my reign will death upon this world!" The man shouted, attempting to get himself out of the ground, but was to no use. He was up to his shoulders at his point with in the ground.**_

_**"Save your breath Grim. You won't be getting out of there, ever!" The leader shotued. The man screamed in fury as his entire head was consumed into the ground, and was never seen or heard from again. The leader of the group walked over to where the man had been, looking at the ground intently. Even with Charon stuck into the ground, he could still feel his precense underneath him. It was certain that Charon was still alive under the ground. The man dug through his kimono, pulling out a strange looking medallion with the shape of a scythe on it.**_

_**"With this medallion, may you rot in the ground for all eternity!" The leader shouted, pushing the medallion in the ground. Suddenly, a strange flash of lightning Erupted from the ground, that seemed to grow everywhere. Nobody could escape the blast of this strange force, as everyone was engulfed in the strange explosion that grew from the single hole. And since that day, no one had seen or heard the tale of this strange day, nor has anyone spoke of it. But, as all tales go, things return to the surface, and many things unfold in the dark history of tommorow...**_

...........................................

**100,000 Years later.....**

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo shouted, slashing a large wave of the blue light towards the enraged hollow, cutting it in half before dissipating into particles.

"These guy's just keep coming!" Rukia shouted, slashing another hollow's head off. It was a busy day for Ichigo and all his soul reaping friends in Karakuru town. There had been a serious pile up of car crashes on a road, killing almost hundreds of people. Once they became a soul, the hollows sensed this spirit energy, and began swarming the city everywhere. Rukia and Ichigo were in charge of taking the skys, Orihime and Chad were helping people get to Renji who, with the help of other soul reapers, were ascending people and help them cross over into the Soul Society. As for the Quincy, Ishida, he was on patrol through the city to protect other people from getting killed by hollows. Orihime suddenly looked in the forest as she heard screaming. As she observed the area, she saw a little girl, who was a spirit, running away from a hollow.

"Chad, wait here. I'll be right back." Orihime yelled, running towards the girl who kept running farther into the woods. Chad blinked confusingly, not hearing the screaming from the little girl. He didn't have time to run though, as dozens of souls ran across him, making getting through them impossible in order to get to Orihime in time. Orihime kept panting as she ran as fast as she could, running over to the girl was was running for her life. As Orihime looked up, she saw a bird like hollow diving straight for the girl. Without any hesitation, she touched the braid on the right side of her head.

"_Koten Zanshun!" _She shouted. Instantly, her braid glowed an eerie bright yellow light, and shot out a yellow beam straight towards the girl. As the girl ran, she suddenly tripped, not paying any attention to where she was going. Right when the hollow was about to grab the girl in her mouth, Tsubaki burst right through it, cutting it in half, and eventually desintigrating. Tsubaki then flew back towards Orihime's braid, being absorbed by it. Orihime felt relieved that she made it in time, then rushed over to the girl to see if she was alright.

"Are you ok?" Orihime asked, squatting so she was down to the girl's hieght. The girl sniffled a bit as she wipped away her tears.

"Y-Yeah." She said, silently. Orihime smiled as she gently strkoed the girl's hair.

"That's good to hear. Head on back towards the street. A tall man with brown hair will direct you to where you need to go, ok?" Orihime said. The girl just nodded as she got up, brushing the dirt off her clothes.

"Thank you." The girl said, bowing before she ran off. Orihime sighed a bit, thankful that the girl was safe. She then noticed how her footing began to feel weird however. As she looked down at her shoes, she noticed how one of her shoes sunk into the ground a bit.

"That's straneg..." Orihime said to herself a bit, as she tried to get a better look into the hole. She couldn't really see that well, considering there was dirt in the hole, but she deffinitely saw something reflecting from the sunlight in the ground. She dug her hand through the dirt, trying to find whatever it was that was shining in it. Once she wass confident she felt something, she tried pulling it up, but noticed it was somewhat stuck. She groaned a bit as she tried pulling harder, feeling the weird object loosening with each tug. With one large tug, she managed to pull the strange thing out of the ground, losing balance as she landed on her back, and scattering pebbles and dirt a little bit everywhere. When she opened her eyes again, they widened as they saw a bone hand holding the strange looking medallion that she picked up.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Orihime shouted, scared of the decayed remains of what she pulled along with it. She quickly tried pulling the hand off, noticing how it had a firm grip on the medallion. Once she managed to, she quickly buried the hand back into the ground, not wanting anyone else to see it, and threw dirt over the hole. She sighed a bit, relieved that the bone was easily buried under ground. As she looked back at the medeallion, she noticed how there was a bit of dust on it. She rubbed it off to see if there was anything on it as far as writing goes so she could return it to someone. When it was completely cleared up though, she raised an eye brow as she only saw a image of two scythes put together to look like an X, and the surrounding circle of it looked like bones. She looked back up as she saw Ichigo coming down.

"Hey Orihime, you ok? I heard you scream." Ichigo said, helping her off the ground.

"Y-Yes. I'm fine, thanks." Orihime said, smiling a bit as usual. Ichigo raised an eye brow as he saw the medallion Orihime was holding.

"Where'd you find that?" Ichigo asked, curiously. Orihime held it up to their eye level to few it better as it dangled from the string.

"I found it in there. I think it was burried with..." Orihime said, poitning to the hole she covered. She didn't want to say what it was that was burried, still having creepy images of the boney hand. As Ichigo examined the inside of the hole, he grew a bit surprised as he saw the skeleton bones within it. The part he found strange though was the fact that the body was burried standing up. Usually when someone burries a body, heck, almost whenever someone burries a body, unless a mummy, they are always in a coffin, or at the very least laying down. It was a bit confusing why the body was standing, but considering he didn't even know how traditions were when they burried this body, whenever they burried it, he didn't really bother questioning it.

"I think that's some treasure thing or whatever they burried with it. You should probably put it back." Ichigo replied, sticking his hand out so Orihime would hand him the medallion. Orihime nodded as she began to hand him the medallion. She suddenly yelped though as she cut her skin on the scythes of the medallion.

"Ow!" She cried, noticing how her hand began to bleed a bit, and dropping the medallion in the process.

"Hey, you ok?" Ichigo asked a bit worriedly. He grabbed Orihime's hand gently as he looked at the cut. It seemed to be right in the palm of her hand, bleeding out a bit. Looking at it closely, he could see that the cut was probably at least two inches long. As he examined it, neither of them noticed how Orihime's blood began dripping to the back of her hand slowly. When enough of it was piled into each other, a single drop of blood dripped off her hand, landing into the hole. The blood began to drop a bit until it hit a strange skull in the hole which had it's mouth opened. The blood began to dissipate a bit as the blood seemed to be absorbed into the skull's boney head, eventually disappearing. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but a strange red glow began to grow inside of the holes of the skull's head. Back to Ichigo and Orihime, Ichigo tore up part of his kimono to use as a bandage to stop the bleeding of Orihime's hand.

"How's that?" Ichigo asked, letting go of her hand.

"I-It's fine." Orihime said, noticing how the bleeding stopped. She quickly picked up the medallion, blowing off any dust on it. Ichigo looked at it curiously.

"How could something like that cut you?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know, it just sorta did..." Orihime said, a bit quietly.

"Well...let's put it back. I might have some ointment or something to fix the wound." Ichigo said, taking a step back as to give Orihime room. Orihime nodded as she kneeled, putting the medallion back down inside the hole. She decided to put it back in the hand of the skeleton, seeing how that's how she found it, and figured the soul of whoever it was could rest easier. But as she set the medallion back into the palm of the hand, she suddenly gasped as she felt something grab her hand. "Ah, get it off, get it off!" Orihime yelled, trying to pull her arm up. Ichigo flinched a bit before starting to help Orihime pull her hand up. He found it weird, feeling whatever it was that her arm was caught in had a firm grip on it. After awhile, they managed to pull Orihime's hand out, sighing at the struggle they went through to get it.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, wondering what it was that grabbed her to begin with.

"I don't know. I was just set it back down on the hand and something weird got stuck on my wrist. Weird part is, it felt like it was squeezing on my wrist tightly for some reason." Orihime said, looking at her hand. She had no idea what it was that got caught on her wrist, but shrugged it off, knowing that they had a job to do. "Look, let's just forget about that. We should be helping the others." Orihime statted. Ichigo nodded as the two of them ran back to the town, resuming their jobs in helping the souls. As soon as they left however, neither of them noticed how the hole in the ground widened a few inches, and it sounded like something was struggling for breath...

....................

A few hours had passed by, and it was now night in the darkened city. Ichigo and the others were resting at Orihime's house, seeing how she had the most space when it came to guests. Everyone was still breathing a bit exhausted from todays work, surprised how long it took them. They had just finished about half an hour ago, yet, most of them felt like they just ran across a state with all the work they've been doing. They never had something like this happen before, and they were all surprised by how much they would have to work when things like this happened again.

"I...never been so...exhausted in...my life..." Ichigo said, panting inbetween words. He was laying on a futon in the dinning room.

"At least...you didn't...have to go all...around town...Ichigo..." Ishida replied panting as well, laying his head on the side of the futon, as he laid on the floor.

"These are the...worst type of...cases that we have to...go through..." Rukia added, leaning against the wall. The group looked as they heard the door bell ringing, looking at it curiously.

"I'll get it." Orihime said, being the only one who wasn't as exhausted as the rest. As she opened the door, a peculiar look grew on her gace, seeing no one else around. She knew that it had to be someone, considering that everyone heard the door. When she looked down though, she smiled at the little figure who was standing in the door way.

"Oh Ichigo..." Orihime said, trying to sound like she had a surprise for him. Ichigo looked curiously at what she wanted, until Orihime stepped to the side, revealing a small little girl who was standing at the door way.

"Oh no..." Ichigo said, quietly to himself.

"Itzygo!" The little girl cheered, running straight up to him and diving head first into Ichigo's chest, and causing him to flal straight down back to the bed. The others laughed as they saw the little green haired girl that was hugging Ichigo, while Ichigo just moaned, holding the little girl with one arm while rubbing his stomach with the other (if you haven't realized who the girl was at this point, **shame on you!**).

"Nel, why aren't you back home?" Ichigo asked, a bit irritated. Nel just giggled as she looked back up at Ichigo.

"I hewded what happened in da city. I was wowwied about 'chu." Nel replied, happily. Ichigo just sighed, knowing this is how she usually acts whenever something happens in town. Ever since the war with Aizen two years ago, Ichigo and the others found it unsafe for Nel to be in Hucho Mundo anymore. Dondochakka and Pesche agreed to this until they could become arracnars as well. That way, they could take a somewhat human form, and live in the living world, under the conditions of the Siretai, that they don't use their hollow powers for anything except for self defense. Ichigo's family didn't need an explanation of some type of lie. They (well technically Yuzu since she was the only one who didn't know) found out about Ichigo being a soul reaper and the hollows after the war. He explained to them how she would be staying with them for the next couple of years until Pesche and Dondochakka became full arracnar vasto lordes. Ichigo looked at the clock in Orihime's kitchen, seeing how it said it was 10:00 O'clock.

"You're suppose to be in bed by now ya know?" Ichigo mentioned, rubbing the girl's hair. He actually found it funny that he could call it her hair now. No one's really sure how, but Nel just popped it off one day and no one knows why really. Kurostchi suggested running a few tests, and the obvious response came from Ichigo: NO! Nel just let out a cute little yawn as her eye lids went down about half way.

"I'm not sweepy..." Nel said, shutting her eyes even more. Everyone just laughed a bit to themselves as Nel's cute snorring indicated she was asleep.

"Well, we should probably go see how the souls are doing. There's usually a big commotion when a large amount of souls get sent to the Soul Society all at once." Rukia mentioned, as she opened a gate to the Soul Society with a hell butterfly. Renji just yawned as he stood up, walking over to the gate.

"Plus, we're exhausted." Renji added.

"Bye everyone." Rukia said, waving as she walked into the gate, with Renji following behind her. Everyone else waved as the two left, with the gate closing behind them. Ichigo sighed as he stood up, carrying Nel in his arms.

"I better go too before dad sends a search party looking for Nel." Ichigo said, walking towards the door where Orihime was still standing. As he did, his eyes caught attention to the cut on her wrist from earliar that day, growing a bit of a concerned look.

"Why haven't you tried to heal your cut?" Ichigo asked, whispering. Orihime looked at her cut a bit concerningly, before looking back at Ichigo.

"I've tried, but...it's not working for some reason." Orihime replied, whispering as well. Ichigo looked a bit surprised as well, but didn't want the others to see his experession.

"Well, hopefully it'll get better soon." Ichigo said, smiling a bit. Orihime smiled too, seeing how he was trying to cheer her up.

"Thanks. Night Ichigo." Orihime said, before looking back at the sleeping Nel. "Night Nel." Orihime whispered into Nel's ear.

"Nighty..." Nel replied, still half asleep. Orihime and Ichigo were a bit surprised that she was still awake, but didn't bother paying much attention to it. They waved to Each other as Ichigo walked out the door, heading home...

................................

The endless darkness of that night brought nothing but terror to be reborn. The 'small' hole in the woods of town that day grew almost five feet long, revealing a crator. From the crator, a man's arm came out, grabbing onto the ground as he pulled himself out of the hole. When he was finally out, (unfortuantely he was naked, but what would you expect to happen to clothes after 100,000 years?) he stretched a bit, bones making crackling noises as he did. He cracked his knuckles, twirled his neck, and yawned a bit as he scratched his brown hair.

"A lot has changed in 100,000 years." The man said to himself (and don't ask me why he knows it's been 100,000 years, they never explain that in things like these!). He turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. As he looked, he saw what appeared to be a teenager, around his hieght, wearing a white school shirt and average blue jeans. The teen just looked at the guy a bit confused, and somewhat disturbed from the fact he was nude.

"Hey dude, you ok?" The teen asked, curiously. The man just looked at the boy from head to toe, noticing the odd fasion sense that changed over time.

"I like your clothes." The man said, resting his hand on the teen's shoulder. In that moment, the teen's eyes widened as every spiritual particle, and his very own soul, exploaded from within him, and collapsed to the ground, dead. The man just grinned as he breathed in the soul he had just destroyed, enjoying the taste of a young soul. All that was left of the boy were his clothes, as his flesh turned into dust. The man just smirked as he looked at the medallion around his neck, holding it in his hand. He saw the dried up blood that was on it, noticing how familiar it was to someone he knew over centuries ago.

"We'll be together soon, my love." The man said, as he started to materialize a strange blue light the shape of a sphear, encircling the medallion. The light just brightened a bit before an image appeared within the light. It showed Orihime who was sleeping in her bed, with the moonlight the only source of light within the room. "After all, I already found the perfect vessle...."

.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

**Phew! Sorry about the delay of no stories or anything. Trying to come up with the best idea and then just going with it. Hopefully, this one will work out. No Cups tonight, sorry. Promise to have one next chapter, or in this case, Episode.**


	2. Grim Rising

**Episode 2: A Grim Rising... **

**(Added note: I apologize for the many spelling errors I had last night, and the thing that popped off of Nel was her broken skull. I apologize deeply for the laziness X( mostly because I was sleepy and not paying attention that much. I promise to not make any more miscakes anymore!...Ok now I promise not to make anymore. Enjoy!)**

Ichigo walked among the quiet streets of Karakuru town as he carried Nel home. He's a bit surprised that she hasn't grown at all from the time she's been with him, but then again with her being a spirit he wasn't that surprised. He knew that the minute he got there, his family would be asking him how the hollow hunting went. He wouldn't be surprised as well, considering this is the first time he's done anything like this before, at least as far as his job today went. He's never fought so many hollows and helped rescue spirits, all in one day before. He sighed as he opened the front door of his house, knowing how he was going to get greeted...

"Ichigo!" Isshin shouted out, jumping straight towards to give him a hug. Ichigo simply moved to the side as he stretched his foot out, causing Isshin to trip and fall in the process.

"Not now dad, Nel's trying to sleep." Ichigo said, looking back down at the sleeping Nel. As he glanced around the place, looking for the clock, he saw that it took him about half an hour to get home, not to mention the fact that he could tell since Yuzu and Karin were sleeping on the couch, as if waiting for their return. During the last two years, Karin had grown about three inches, and Yuzu had grown till she was up to her sister's shoulder length. He grinned a bit as he walked over to the couch, shaking his sisters awake. Both of them opened their eyes slowly until they saw Ichigo standing beside the couch.

"Ichi..." They both almost shouted, before Ichigo put his finger to his mouth as a sign to be quiet. He looked at the little girl in his arms to give them the heads up, and showing them Nel was asleep. They both grew surprised experession as they nodded, telling him they got the idea.

"Where have you been?" Yuzu asked, whispering.

"It's a long, exhausting story. I'll tell you in the morning, 'kay?" Ichigo replied.

"You better tell us the truth as well Ichigo. You know we can both see spirits now." Karin said, reminding him of the situation. Ichigo mentally rolled his eyes, knowing full well they both could.

"'Night." Yuzu and Karin said, quickly and quietly running up stairs. Ichigo rubbed his head a bit as he walked upstairs as well. He set Nel to the side of his bed, considering he usually sleeps on the bed with him. She doesn't sleep in Ichigo's closet because one, Rukia usually sleeps in there, and two, she didn't like the fact it was practically pitch black whenever the closet was closed. He gently set Nel to the side of the bed, putting the covers on her. He still found it weird as to why the skull popped off her head, but considering what she has been through he decided not to bother remaining on the question. Just as Ichigo was ready to call it a night however, the beeping on his badge went off. He cursed a bit to himself, knowing how annoying it was to go after a hollow just as he was about to sleep. He he sighed as he grabbed the badge, quickly changing into his soul form, and his human body just collapsed. By the look of where his body landed, his body had his head leaning against the bed. He knew as he opened the window, that he was going to wake up with a sore neck tonight.

...........................

The hollow's scream in anger and fury filled the city, yet no one was able to hear it. It crushed through many trees, leaving it's own foot prints in the ground, and shattered light posts as it simply passed through it. The hollow had a red colored skin, with a large scaley tail. It's massive claws were almost the same size as it's head, but you couldn't even tell if you put them right next to each other. As it's rampage continued, the hollow looked behind himself as he heard someone. When he looked, his eyes glared in fury as he saw Ichigo, standing there with his unsheathed Zanpakto in one hand.

"Do you mind leaving or making this quick?" Ichigoi asked, grinning a bit. The hollow roared in anger as it charged right towards him. Just as Ichigo raised his sword, ready to slice the hollow in half, an immense spiritual pressure filled the air. Ichigo's eyes widened at the size of it, never feeling something like this before from a regular shimigami. The hollow stopped as well, looking all around it, trying to figure out where the source of it was coming from. Instantly, a strange black cloaked figure appeared right in the middle of where the hollow and Ichigo were standing. Ichigo couldn't see the figure's entire face, mostly due to the fact the hood was covering the top part of his head. The only thing he could see was the guy's mouth to his chin. And he had on a pair of black gloves, which Ichigo found a bit weird.

"Hey, who are you?" Ichigo asked. The stranger just looked at Ichigo for a second, before looking down at his Zanpakto. He smirked as he pulled back his hood, revealing a strange black eye-colored man, with brown hair that somewhat went down to his ears. He also noticed how the spiritual pressure went back down a bit. At the given oppertunity, the hollow continued it's charge, heading straight towards the man who was a few feet in front of Ichigo. "Look out!" Ichigo shouted, trying to warn him. As the stranger looked back, he saw the charging hollow that seemed to grow the closer it got.

"Heel." The stranger commanded, holding up his hand in front of the hollow. Ichigo looked strangely as the man's hand started giving off a glowing white light, which shinned brightly from the darkness of the entire city. As he looked back at the hollow, his eyes widened at what he saw: The hollow was kneeling as it had it's hand on the ground, and it's head was facing directly at the man in the cloak. The man softly petted, to Ichigo's shock as well, the hollow's mask as it simply stayed there like the man commanded.

"W-What the hell did you just do?" Ichigo stuttered. The man simply glimpsed back at Ichigo, only turning his head a little bit.

"A hollow may be brainless, but even they know how to show respect to superiors." The man replied. Ichigo just looked back at the hollow for a sec, before looking back at the man.

"Who are you?" The man remained silent for a few seconds before looking back to Ichigo.

"My name is Grim, and I better get going." He replied, instantly vanishing with the hollow. Ichigo blinked, a bit surprised that he didn't even catch a glimpse of the man vanishing, or seeing which direction he headed off to. Ichigo looked around a bit, wondering if the man was still around. He sighed as he figured that they were gone, seeing how there was nothing left of either of them. He jumped a bit startled as he heard the cell phone in his pocket. When he checked the I.D., he raised an eyebrow as he saw it was a call from home.

"Hello?" He asked, setting the phone near his ear. He couldn't really tell who, but he could hear screaming in the background.

"Ichigo, get your butt back home!" Karin shouted into the phone, the shouting pratically blowing Ichigo's head away from the cell phone. She looked back at Yuzu who was holding a crying Nel, sitting next to Ichigo's lifeless body.

"Itzy...Itzygo's dead!" Nel cried, as Yuzu gently stroked her hair. Ichigo just groaned a bit as he completely forgot about the fact his body was now apparently lifeless, even though he didn't consider Nel waking up to see it.

"Just tell her I'll be there in a minute." Ichigo replied, hanging up the phone. Taking one quick glance at where Grim had stood, he decided to shrug it off as he quickly hurried home, knowing that Nel's crying would surely wake up the entire nieghbor hood at the rate of Nel's insane loudness...

........................

The sun rose from the darkened end of the Earth, it's bright lights filled the city with all that it could see. As more of it rose, the light grew a bit as it started to grow from one end of Karakura town, until it engulfed the entire city. At the Kurosaki residences, Nel, who was still sleeping in Ichigo's arm, seeing how she wouldn't calm down the night before, yawned as she rubbed her eyes. She looked down at Ichigo, noticing he was still snoring in his sleep. She, softly as she could, climbed up his chest, crawling towards his head.

"Itzygo." Nel said quietly, rubbing his chest. Ichigo just continued to snore. "Itzygo..." She said a bit louder with a frown, rubbing his chest. Still same response. She inhaled deeply as her chest buffed out. "ITZYGO!" She shouted right next to him. Ichigo jumped a bit and landed face first on the floor. As Ichigo groaned, Nel just laughed as she pointed at Ichigo's humor. Ichigo would've yelled, but this is how his morning usually ended up, so he was used to it. He rubbed his head as he looked back at Nel, still giggling.

"Can you ever go without waking me for just one night?" Ichigo asked, even though he knew she couldn't. Nel just giggled as she hopped up on Ichigo's pack, looking at him from over his shoulder.

"C'mon, bweakfast timmey!" Nel yelled, pointing towards Ichigo's door. He just rolled his eyes as Ichigo left the room, heading down the stairs. Ichigo still had to go to school today, but luckily Nel could understand that she couldn't follow him to there, esspecially since last time she did she got lost, and ended up in the girl's locker room. Ichigo blushed at the numerous 'secrets' that she couldn't keep to herself, and telling all the girls in the locker room that time who thought she was cute on that day. As the two looked into the kitchen, they saw Yuzu at the stove, still in her pajamas and wearing an apron. She looked back as she heard footsteps, smiling as she saw the two sleepy heads.

"Mornin' Ichigo, hi Nel." Yuzu said, happily waving.

"Hi Wuzu." Nel said, waving back as well. "What'chu making fo bweakfast?" Nel asked, curiously.

"Come over and find out." Yuzu replied, patting herself a bit on the back. Nel got the picture as she quickly leaped from Ichigo's to Yuzu's shoulder. She looked down at the pan Yuzu had on the stove, growing excited at the sight of what she was cooking.

"Pantakes!" Nel said, happily. Yuzu just giggled a bit at how she called them pantakes instead of pancakes. Nel watched as Yuzu easily flipped the pancake without even using a spatula, and landing it right in the plate Yuzu had near the stove. Nel's eyes grew a bit more interested as she didn't see the plate she had near her, and the stack of other pancakes already in there. "Wow, dose are pwetty pig pantakes." Nel said as Yuzu carried the plate over to the table where Ichigo was sitting, yawning a bit. Ichigo smiled as he grabbed a fork, using it to grab one of the pancakes on the plate. Ichigo knew himself that if there was something Yuzu specialized at, it was her famous pancakes. Right when he was about to dig into his breakfast, he stopped though as he looked at the table, looking for something. Yuzu looked at this curiously.

"What's wrong?" Yuzu asked.

"Any syrup?" Ichigo asked.

"I'll getted it." Nel said, hopping off of Yuzu's back and heading towards the top cabnit above the kitchen counters. Yuzu and Ichigo grew a bit nervous at this.

"Uhh Nel, I don't think you should..." Ichigo started, a bit surprised she was high up.

"It's ok Itzygo, I'll get it and den we can have some of da pantakes!" Nel said, excited. It's not that she hasn't been in high places before, it's just that if she falls, she'll land hardly on the floor. She kept forgetting sometimes that she doesn't have her skull anymore to protect her head. As Nel looked around, she smiled as she saw the syrup bottle. She grabbed it, ready to pull it with ease, but blinked a bit curious as she saw it was somewhat stuck between some of the other stuff around it. She grunted a bit as she pulled on it, trying to get the syrup bottle unstuck. To her mistake though, she suddenly lost grip on the bottle, and fell head down towards the floor. The loud banging of her head was followed by sobful cries in pain.

"Nel!" Yuzu shouted, worriedly. Ichigo and Yuzu quickly ran over to see if she was alright. Yuzu kneeled as she held Nel in her arms. "It's ok Nel, you're fine." Yuzu cooed, trying to ease the three year old arracnar. Ichigo looked back at the syrup bottle irritated, seeing how it was stuck. He grabbed the syrup bottle as he started to pull on it, seeing how it was tightly in place. It took him a few seconds, but he finally managed to pull the bottle out of the cabinet. He groaned as he could see how it was giving someone a hard time. He handed it to Yuzu, trying to show it to Nel to hopefully calm her down. Unfortunately, it had no such affect. That's when the three saw Isshin rushing into the kitchen entry way.

"What is wrong with my third daughter?!" He yelled. From the side of the wall, the three could see a leg bashing into Isshin's head, causing him to smash into the ground. Yuzu and Ichigo looked back at Nel as they heard her sniffle a bit as she giggled. They then saw saw Karin walking in with her hands on her hips.

"The only thing wrong around here is how you act." Karin sneered. Nel wipped her tears a bit, although a few trickled down her face as she sniffled a bit. Yuzu just smiled as she set Nel on her back and walked her over to the table again. Using a fork to cut part of a pancake, she grabbed a piece and held it over her shoulder for Nel to eat. Nel moaned in delight as she ate the slice of the pancake, enjoying the taste. She sighed in relief, and tears stopped rolling down her face, as she swallowed the pieces of the pancake.

"Yummy!" Nel cheered. Yuzu just giggled to herself as she alternated between giving a slice for her and a slice for Nel. As Yuzu looked back, she saw Nel's face a complete mess, and knowing her, she didn't get cleaned up yet.

"Wanna take a bath Nel? We got new bath bubble soap yesterday." Yuzu said, surprising Nel.

"Yah! Bath time away!" Nel said, pointing towards the entrance of the kitchen. Yuzu could obviously tell that she was pointing for her to go upstairs. Holding Nel's legs tightly, she lurched back for a quick second before making neighing sounds like a horse, charging head first to run straight upstairs. "Weeee faster horsie faster!" Nel cheered. Ichigo just grinned a bit as he saw this.

"She still acts like she did in Los Noches." Ichigo said to himself.

"Say Ichigo..." Karin said as she grabbed a pancake, grabbing his attention. "Did you hear on the news? Someone went missing yesterday." Ichigo tilted his head slightly at this.

"So what? People disappear alot around the world." Ichigo replied.

"Actually, it happened sometime last night before you left." Karin replied. Ichigo eyes widened as he suddenly remembered the night from before. He wondered to himself as to whether or not the strange guy from before he had met had anything to do with it. "And by the way, you might wanna head to school." Karin said, pointing to the clock. As Ichigo looked, his eyes widened as he saw it was already 9:00 A.M.

"Crap! Class starts in twenty minutes!" Ichigo shouted, grabbing his backpack off the coat hanger and rushing out the door. Karin sighed as she grabbed the remote, turning on the tv. She looked at it curiously as she saw a news report with some strange hole in a forest near Karakura town...

.......................................

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Ichigo cursed to himself repeatedly. He knew that if he was late for school this time he would end up having to stay after school. Esspecially since his fiasco yesterday fighting the hollows all day, he knew he would wake up late this morning, yet completely forgot to check the time. He was glad though that he only lived a few minutes away from him school, luckily giving him about two minutes before the bell rang to get into the class room. Ichigo's friends looked at him as he began panting, a bit out of breath from his long run to school.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Ichigo heard one of his friend's saying. As he looked up at the person, he saw Tatsuki walking over to him.

"What's up Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked.

"What's wrong with Orihime?" Tatsuki asked. Ichigo flinched a bit before looking calm.

"W-What do you mean?"

"She's sick today. She says she's been throwing up every few days." Ichigo grew a bit surprised at this, wondering if it had anything to do with that medallion he saw cut her yesterday. Could it have made her sick? Ichigo thought. Ichigo and Tatsuki looked at the door as they saw the teacher walking in.

"Alright everyone, take your seats." The teacher commanded. Everyone did as they were told, being respectful. As soon as the teacher set her papers down, she sat back down in her seat.

"Ok class, I'd like to introduce you to a new student." The teacher statted. At the same time, the student's looked as they saw a teenager walking into the classroom. Ichigo's eyes widened at the sight of the new student.

"Class I'd like to introduce you to Mr..." The teacher started, wanting the student to finish the sentence for her.

"Just call me...Grim."


	3. Grim's Request And Demand Part 1

**Episode 3: Grim's Request And Demand Part 1**

Ichigo was dumbstrucked at the sight of Grim being a new student in the classroom. First he shows up as a soul reaper, then he shows up as a student in his class. Ichigo prayed that he wasn't some visard that wanted him to join some evil cult thing bent on wanting his skills or whatever. He still had annoyed headaches from when Shinji was a student there, asking him to become a part of his group. As he looked back, he mentally rolled his eyes as he saw the student taking his seat right next to Ichigo's, unfortunately in the exact same spot Shink sat at.

"Please don't ask. Please don't ask. Please don't ask." Ichigo kept thinking to himself.

"Hey Ichigo..." Grim started, putting his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo just groaned a bit, annoyed he would have to go through this stuff again.

"Look, before you ask, I'm not going to be your friend!" Icihgo said, irritated. Grim just took his hand off Ichigo's shoulder, a bit confused and surprised at the fact he would react to something, even if he didn't know what it was.

"Ehh...Ok...Actually I was just wondering where Orihime is." Grim statted. Ichigo blinked a bit surprised and relieved that it wasn't about joining some weird orginization thing.

"Oh, she's sick today and..." Ichigo stopped though as he realized something. "Hey, how do you know Orihime anyway?" Ichigo asked, looking intently on Grim. Grim just scratched the back of his head for a few seconds before replying.

"Oh well...I uhh...heh heh...Sorry and all but I was sorta eavesdropping. My bad dude." Grim apologized, laughing a bit to himself. Ichigo just looked at what the teacher was talking about, trying to forget Grim's question. The thing was that he couldn't have just been eavesdropping from outside the door, or he would've been in the class sooner. Also, when Katsuki told him about Orihime, Ichigo just entered the classroom practically, so he should've seen Grim on the way there. He decided to find out about it whenever he had the free time that day...

.............................

Nel giggled to herself as she splashed around in the bath tub with Yuzu. Yuzu always had to take a bath with Nel, because one: She needed to get washed up for the day as well, and two: Nel was always scared of taking a bath by herself. It wasn't the part about being by herself that frightened her, it's just that Nel never could get used to being in the water by herself, seeing how spending heck knows how long in the desert, and never once seeing water before. Yuzu didn't mind it though, seeing how she could get cleaned up herself as well, and being pretty much the care taker for the house, she figured it'd be a less waste of water this way. After about five more minutes of letting Nel play around, Yuzu decided to end it.

"Ok Nel, get over here so I can scrub your hair." Yuzu said, grabbing some shampoo.

"O-tay!" Nel said happily, moving over so she was sitting in Yuzu's lap as she got her hair washed. Nel played with the soap that formed from the shampoo as Yuzu scrubbed her hair. Even if she was scared of the water, if there was one thing she liked playing with in the water it was always the bubbles. There was something about the way they felt and the fact they popped that always amused Nel, even if she couldn't understand why for herself. The two of them looked at the door as they heard banging from the other side of the door.

"Who's there?" Yuzu asked.

"It's ok Yuzu." Karin replied. On the other side of the door, she was holding her dad down to the ground, simply by using her arms to pin them down.

"Ack! C'mon! It's my job as a father to watch my...er I mean wash my daughters!" Isshin complained, trying to break free. Yuzu and Nel just blinked a bit as they starred at the door, hearing the argument between Karin and their father.

"Why does Eshin want ta watch us bathing?" Nel asked, looking up at Yuzu. Yuzu just shrugged as she went right back to washing Nel's hair. As Nel played with the bubbles, Yuzu sighed as she wondered what Ichigo would be doing right now.

......................................

In the desolate, foggy graveyard, many of the dead are warshipped. Among the many columns of the gravestones, people leave their prayers as guidances to help those towards the next life. In the quiet region of the dead, a cloaked figure stood out. It walked towards the vast amount of graves until it finally came to the one it was looking for. In it's hands were a bundle of flowers from blossoms to roses and to many different assortment of flowers. A tear could be seen rolling down the cheek of the figure as it kneeled, setting the flowers on top of the grave. The figure put it's hand to it's face as the weeping could be heard from this poor, misguided figure. The figure stopped though as it heard walking behind it. It quickly turned around in panic, hoping to not have been found out. It let out a sigh of relief though as it saw Hitsuguya walking towards it.

"Oh, it's just you." The figure said, pulling it's hood down, and revealing itself to be Momo. Hitsuguya stopped only a few inches away from the hooded figure.

"What are you doing out here Momo? It's foggy out here and the visibility is thick." Hitsuguya statted, a bit sternly.

"I know but..." Momo replied, looking back at the bundle of flowers set upon the grave. As Hitsuguya looked, his eyes widened before he grabbed the collar of the cloak Momo was wearing, pulling it harshly towards his face.

"What the hell are you thinking Momo?!" Hitsuguya stammered, scarring Momo a bit. "How could you still love him after all he's done, huh? Did you forget how he almost killed you, or how he attempted to destroy all of Karakura town, just to rule over Soul Society?!" Hitsuguya shouted. He gritted his teeth as tears began rolling down Momo's eyes. He was mad at himself for being so irrational towards Momo. It wasn't that he hated her for doing this, it's just that he was worried. If someone saw her doing this, she may be held for being in a conspiracy with Aizen, and Hitsuguya didn't want that. He sighed as he let go of his grip, taking a few steps back.

"I'm sorry Momo." He apologized. Momo just sniffed a bit as she tried to wipe away her tears.

"I'm not c-crying because of t-that..." Momo started, still trying to get control of herself. Hitsuguya looked at her a bit curiously, wondering what it was that brought her sadness.

"Then what's the matter?" Momo remained silent for a few seconds before she responded.

"It's because you remined me of Aizen..." Momo said silently. She didn't even have time to react as Hitsuguya had his blade up to her neck. She just stood there, frozen in fear.

"Don't **EVER** compare me to him!" He shouted, as he pushed Momo back. He simply walked away, not even listening to the souds of tears that ran down Momo's face. _Even the way he threatened me, and the way he held his sword...it's just like Aizen..._Momo thought to herself, bringing even more pain to her heart. Hitsuguya was feeling torn up as well. He couldn't understand how she could love him after all he's done. He stopped as he saw Matsumoto looking at him. The two of them weren't visable due to the thick fog that coated the graveyard.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?" Matsumoto asked. Hitsuguya just looked away as he continued walking for a bit till he was a few feet away from her.

"I worry about her." Hitsuguya statted, not even looking back. A shrill silence filled the graveyard a bit, only letting in the sound of wind. It was broken when Hitsuguya finally spoke. "Say, Matsumoto?" Hitsuguya started, trying to get her attention. Matsumoto looked curiously at him.

"Hm? Yes?" She replied.

"Do you think...Do you think that I sort've act like...Aizen?" Hitsuguya asked. Matsumoto was a bit silent, hearing the whole conversation between him and Momo.

"It...Depends..." She replied, increasing Hitsuguya's confused look.

"Depends on what?"

"...Who you're asking..." Matsumoto replied, beginning to walk in the same direction as Hitsuguya. Hitsuguya just looked at the ground, going into thought about what Momo had said about him. _Am I really like Aizen? _Hitsuguya thought to himself.

___________________________________________________

"Ack!" Grim yelled as he was pushed up against a tree. Ichigo grabbed the color of his outfit. It had been a few hours already, and everyone was just leaving school. The onlyl thing that Ichigo held on his mind though was why the heck this guy shows up one night, and shows up at his school like Shinji, except for the fact that he wasn't here for him. It bothered him though, because he knew for a fact that the guy was here for a reason, but as to what it was remained the question.

"Ok now talk!" Ichigo yelled.

"Sheesh, are you always this hard on new students?" Grim asked. Ichigo just tightened his grip as he pushed Grim a bit harder onto the tree.

"Why are you here? You show up one day and the next day you act like you just met me." Ichigo stammered.

"Well, technically this is the first time actually meeting you so..." Grim started to reply, before Ichigo pushed him back a bit against the tree. "Will you cut that out?" Grim asked irritated, swatting away Ichigo's hands.

"Why are you looking for Orihime?" Ichigo asked. As he looked more closely though, he noticed a strange chain around the guy's neck, and going down into his shirt. He could have sworn he saw the exact same chain somewhere else, but he couldn't remember where. "What is that around your neck?" Ichigo asked. Grim looked sternly on this before changing his experession, pulling the chain down a bit deeper so it was less visable.

"It's...nothing." Grim replied, before walking away.

"Hey!" Ichigo said, running up to him. "We're not finished yet!" Ichigo shouted. Suddenly, a huge explosion shrouded the area in nothing bust dust and smoke. As Ichigo tried to look around, he couldn't see Grim anywhere. _Damn_. Ichigo thought to himself, knowing that he had escaped. When he looked back, he noticed how a large dark figure could be made from inside of the dust. It took awhile, but Ichigo smirked as he saw a simple hollow taking shape. But to his surprise, something about the hollows mask was different. The mask itself was all boney, and with the hollows shrill screaming, it's mouth didn't move at all. Ichigo glared at the hollow, knowing that either way, he'd have to destory it one way or another. Digging through his pockets, he quickly dug out and swallowed his Gikongai, trasnforming into his spiritual mode. Kon coughed a bit as he began to breath.

"Ichigo *cough* why the hell didn't you put me in your doll and bring that instead?" Kon stammered. He looked back though as he heard the large roar of the strange hollow, growing nervous. "But you know, it feels good to use legs again. I'll give it a try." Kon said, screaming as he began to run away from the giant monster. Ichigo just smirked as he grabbed his Zanpakto.

"Listen pal, I don't have time to deal with you." Ichigo statted, raising his sword above his head. At the same time, the hollow was charging at him with it's fist. "Getsuga Tenshou!" He shouted, swinging the massive blade down in one fell swoop. The discharge of energy easily cleaved the arm of the hollow in two, falling to the ground with a thud. Ichigo smirked as he saw this was way to easy for a regular hollow. But his look changed as he saw the severed arm that was cut right off, beginning to move on it's own, and leveitating back until it was reattached to the hollow's arm. The hollow roared again, as if sounding unamused and smirking.

"What the hell?" Ichigo stammered. The hollow began to charge itself straight at Ichigo this time. "Stay down and die!" Ichigo shouted, swinging his blade yet again, and repeating the same action. This time he cleaved the hollow in two, straight down the middle. He smirked again as he saw the two halfs falling on ends. But to his shock, the two parts began to move again until they were connected again, showing no sign of injury. Ichigo quickly blocked the hollows great punch, hearing the scattering of his own blade against the hollow's hand. "What the hell! That's cheating!" Ichigo complained, swing his blade back to get an opening. _Wait a second._ Ichigo said to himself, noticing something about the hollow's strange charge. It took him a full minute before he realized what it was. He realized whatever this strange hollow was, it was the same hollow he met the night before. He gritted his teeth in anger, knowing that Grim had something to do with this for sure.

"What's he trying to do?" Ichigo asked himself. "The hollow won't friggen die, and it can't harm me either. It's like he doesn't even..." Ichigo stopped as it just strucked him. "Orihime!" He shouted, looking in the direction that lead to Orihime's house. He was to distracted to block the hollow's attack again, causing him to get pinned down by the ground, only revealing his head. To his dismay, he dropped the sword when the hollow grabbed him. "Damnit! You're pissing me off!" Ichigo shouted, glaring at the hollow. The hollow just roared as it began to swing it's fist down towards Ichigo's head, prepared to squish Ichigo's head like a bug.

Meanwhile, Orihime walked over to her front door. She was feeling sick to her stomach the entire day, but luckily she hasn't thrown up that much, and she was starting to feel a little bit better. Even more, she was a bit happy and nervous today. She just found out big news, and she knew that she had to tell Ichigo about it. The only thing that made her nervous though was how Ichigo would take it once she told him. As she opened the door, she looked curiously at the strange person who was standing in her doorway. Her vision felt dazy a bit from the sun light, but she could tell someone was looking back at her. All she could do was hear what the man said.

"Well, we finally meet...Orihime." The man said, in a calm voice. Orihime squinted a bit, unable to see the face of the stranger. She rubbed her eyes a bit, somewhat helping her vision, and clearing the foginess a bit. As her vision cleared, she gasped at the strange man she saw standing in front of her. The man had black gloves on his hand and what seemed to be a high school uniform, much like the one Ichigo usually wears. She hasn't seen him before, but something about him seemed all so familiar. And that's what scared her the most; unable to tell where she's last seen him.

"C-Can I help you?" Orihime asked. The stranger raised an eye brow at this.

"Your words..." The stranger started as he began walking towards Orihime, and causing Orihime to nervously to walk backwards. "You remind me so much of her..."

"W-W-Who?" Orihime asked, frightened. She gasped a bit as she backed up into a wall, then looked back at the stranger. Her eyes widened as the man placed his back hand gently on her forehead, slowly going down to her stomach and then to her stomach. His eyes went blank though once his hand was touching her stomach. Orihime looked in fear as the man continued to look like he did now until his eyes changed back to normal. He grinned as just looked into Orihime's eyes.

"We'll be together soon...Kassandra..." The man whispered into her ear. Orihime's eyes widened as the man removed his glove. Something about being as close to the man's hand made her feel uneasy. It only grew as he brought his hand closer to her face, just ready to touch it. Right when it was about to though, she instantly vanished, causing the man to grow in anger. "No!" He shouted, smashing his fist into wall. As Orihime opened her eyes, she saw that she was being carried by Ichigo, who appeared to have blood dripping a bit from his head and arms. When she looked back, her eyes widened as she saw an explosion of riatsu filling her entire house, and destroying everything into one large blast.

"M-My house!" Orihime complained, both shocked and scared of what this strange man wanted with her. Ichigo looked back as he felt the riatsu, gasping as well. He knew that Grim was after her, but didn't expect him to have so much spiritual pressure. Ichigo knew that whoever this guy was he was no ordinary shimigami. He looked back down to Orihime, somewhat worriedly.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he descended down to the ground. Orihime nodded.

"I'm fine...Thank's Ichigo." Orihime replied. She stood up once Ichigo had landed to the ground. "What happened to you?" Orihime asked. Ichigo just looked away for a bit, feeling somewhat embarassed about the wholw situation.

"...I was attacked by a hollow." Ichigo replied, quietly. Orihime blinked curiously.

"What kind of hollow? Arracnar, Vasto Lorde..." Orihime questioned, wanting Ichigo to fill in the slot.

"It was just...a hollow." Ichigo replid. Orihime looked at Ichigo surprised, but based on his injuries, she didn't want to make Ichigo feel any worse.

"It couldn't have been normal though. I mean, how could you haev a hard time with a regular hollow?" Orihime asked, trying to sound as kind as possible. Ichigo just looked at her with a somewhat depressed experession.

"It wasn't just a regular hollow, Orihime." Ichigo replied, looking at his sword. "Every time I cut it, it just came back together. I even tried cutting it in half, and the stupid thing just reattached itself."

"Then how did you beat it?" Orihime asked. Ichigo remained silent to himself for a few seconds before looking back at Orihime.

"I..." Ichigo wasn't able to finish his sentence, as an explosion of debris and dust scatttered everywhere, originating from the road they were near. Once everything was dissipated, the hollow looked at them, ready to attack at any moment. Ichigo grunted in anger as he grabbed his Zanpak to, standing in front of Orihime. "I couldn't. I had to escape from it." Ichigo yelled. Orihime could tell he wasn't yelling because of her, it was because of the hollow and how much it irritated him.

"How are we going to kill this thing then? If we just run, it'll eventually find us, or it'll just go after more people." Orihime statted, worriedly. Ichigo gritted his teeth as he knew she had a point. Running away wasn't an option at this point, and if they did others could get hurt because of it. That's when a sudden burst of spiritual pressure filled the area. Ichigo's eyes widened as he knew who's it was. As if on que, Grim appeared on top of the strange hollow's head, looking down at them. The only difference was the fact he was in his pitch black cloak, and had his gloves back on.

"You!" Ichigo shouted, angered by the fact he was trying to harm Orihime. Grim just smirked.

"I'll make this easy for you Ichigo Kurosaki. Hand me the girl, and your life will be spared." Grim commanded. Ichigo just smirked, causing Grim to raise an eye brow at this.

"I haven't even shown you all I can do yet." Ichigo said, aiming the sword directly at Grim. Grim looked curiously at what Ichigo was about to do. "Bankai!" He shouted, exploding with a burst of riatsu that shot straight towards Grim. Grim's eyes widened for a moment before he quickly vanished from the hollow's head as it was engulfed in the blue riatsu that appeared from it. He quickly reappeared in the sky, looking back at the now headless hollow. He grinned as the hollow simply regenerated it's head, blinking a bit. As he looked back at Ichigo, he was a bit surprised to see Ichigo's outfit and sword had changed.

"Interesting." Grim said, looking at Ichigo's changes. "It seems you're a better subject too test my new powers on than I thought." Grim said, holding out a large black pole. Ichigo looked at it confusingly until it began to grow off a black aura. His eyes widened as a scythe grew from the top part of the pole, arching down at least a fourth of the size of the pole.

"W-What is that?" Ichigo asked, somewhat shocked by the strange shimigami's scythe.

"This, my fellow shimigami, is the ultimate Zanpakto, ever made." Grim replied, taking a stance. Ichigo just smirked.

"Orihime, wait here, ok?" Ichigo said, looking back at her.

"But Ichigo..." Orihime started to reply, wanting to tell him something. It was too late however, as Ichigo instantly vanished, reappearing as he clased his blade against Grim's scythe.

"Not bad. Your blade didn't shatter, so this means it'll be an interesting fight." Grim replied, pushing back Ichigo's attack.

"If you want it to get interesting, keep focused on where I am!" Ichigo yelled back, instantly vanishing. Grim's eyes widened at the enormous speed Ichigo used to vanish, then heard him reappearing a few feet from where he originated from. Before he could even gaze at him, he vanished again, before reappearing in one area, then in another and so forth. Grim looked all around him, surprised at the many images of Ichigo who appeared all around him, knowing that it was simply his speed that made these images appear.

"Quite impressive. I never even thought of using speed like that before." Grim complemented, enjoying the excitement he was getting. "But there is one minor flaw to it." Grim added, causing Ichigo to look at him, somewhat strangely. Without even making the slightest noise, Grim vanished. Before Ichigo could even begin to sense for his spiritual pressure, he felt a massive blow to his stomach as Grim punched his hand into it. Ichigo gasped a bit as he felt the air coming out of his body, his eyes going blank.

"The flaw is the fact you're bond to end up where one of your clones are if you keep running in the same place." Grim added, removing his hand from Ichigo's stomach. Before Ichigo could even break down to his knee, he was struck from the side by Grim's foot, getting shot at immense speed. Forcefully shrugging it off, Ichigo quickly flipped as he used his hand to help stop himself from flying, scattering dust from where his feet were. He stood quickly glaring back at Grim, putting one hand on his chest where Grim hit him.

"Even if it is a flaw..." Ichigo said, taking breaths inbetween words. "I still have...a few more tricks...up my sleeve." Ichigo said, concentrating his spiritual energy into his sword.

"Hit me with your best shot kid." Grim commanded.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo shouted, releasing a black wave of spiritual energy towards Grim. Grim simply closed his eyes, stretching his arms out as he awaited to get hit. Ichigo looked at Grim confused, wondering why he wasn't even attempting to block himself from it. There was an explosion as the blast collided into Grim. As the smoke cleared, Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw Grim completely wounded. Blood dripped him his head, feet, and legs. _What the heck is with this guy? He didn't even try to dodge it!_ Ichigo thought to himself in disbelief. Grim simply breathed in deeply through his nose, then breathed out a sigh of relief as he looked back at Ichigo.

"It's been so long to know what pain feels like. I thank you, Shimigami." Grim said, bowing in respect. Ichigo was just standing there, somewhat confused.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked, wondering if this guy was even human.

"Ah, yes. I believe that is why you don't give me credit for showing me the proper respect." Grim said, instantly vanishing. Ichigo's eyes went blank as he felt something piercing through his chest. His vision blured as everything appeared to be mirroring back and forth. He heard Orihime letting out a scream as he slowly looked down to his chest, seeing the end of the scythe sticking out from his chest. "Call me the Grim Reaper!" He shouted, pulling out his scythe. Ichigo gasped as blood coughed from his mouth, and he slowly began to descend to the ground. Not even a few seconds later, Grim grabbed him by the throat, looking at him curiously.

"I'm surprised you didn't die. My scythe can tear souls apart, even if they're in the body of a human. You're something else." Grim said to himself, seeing Ichigo couldn't even turn his head from his mortal wound.

"Stop it!" Orihime shouted, catching Grim's attention. The sun was finally setting as the sky blended into the orange sun light that it was giving off. "If you want me so badly I'll go, but please..." Orihime begged, tears rolling down her eyes. "Don't kill Ichigo..." Grim just smirked at her request.

"Oh, I won't kill him. But I do find it interesting if I experimented a little to see what I can get him to do." Grim replied, opening a black portal behind him. Orihime's eyes widened, knowing he wasn't going to listen.

"Please! I want to tell him something! Stop!" Orihime shouted. Before she could do anything, the hollow which she had forgottton about pinned her to the wall from the street. Orihime struggled to break free, but found it useless as the Hollow had firmly pinned her. She cried a bit as more tears rolled down her eyes, feeling regret for not trying to tell Ichigo even when he was fighting. As she looked back, her eyes widened as she saw Grim carrying Ichigo into the portal, dragging him by the neck.

"Stop! Ichigo!" Orihime shouted, trying to waken him. Grim simply ignored her as he stepped through the portal, disappearing through it. "Ichigo!" Orihime shouted again, still with no results as the portal had completely disappeared. "ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Orihime screamed. she knew she would never be able to see Ichigo again, and never be able to tell him...

.........................................................

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Grim's Request And Demand Part 2

**The Sequel to the third ep! This time around we see more of the characters of Bleach and their surprise from the new hollows that have been spreading around...(Also, minor note: Thank god to the 350 manga on website for givin me a peak of Ichigo's new transformation! It'll be useful later in the chapters.......) Sorry bout the posting mistake, was posting 3 different things at once and got mixed up :P**

**Episode 4: Grim's Request and Demand P2**

"_King..."_ a voice spoke out. Ichigo groaned a bit as he heard the voice. He finally awoke from the darkness that enveloped him, but felt paralyzed from his arms and legs. _"King..." _The voice spoke out again. Ichigo opened his eyes a bit before closing up again. _"Wake up, King..."_ Ichigo opened his eyes wider this time, but still only half opened. He slowly lifted his head. Everything seemed to be moving hazily, but Ichigo could tell soemeone, or something, was standing right in front of him. All Ichigo did know for a fact was that everything around him black, except for the figure in front of him, himself (technically he still was since his kimono is black), and something that was holding his arm in place. As his vision became clear, Ichigo's looked surprised, but still half opened, as he saw his hollow self standing right in front of him, grinning a bit.

"H-H-Hollow..." Ichigo murmurred, struggling to just keep his head up. As it began to dwindle down, the hollow grabbed him by his hair, raising his head up.

"_Aww, you remembered. I'm touched._" The hollow said, sarcastically. Ichigo gritted his teeth as the hollow pulled his hair harder.

"Where are we?" Ichigo asked. He looked confused as he just heard the hollow chuckling to himself.

"_Look around the vast darkness, King. __**THIS**__ is your mind!"_ The hollow replied. Ichigo's eyes finally widened as he looked around him. His arms were wrapped in chains, both reaching out towards the cieling. He attempted to pull the chains and break free, but moaned a bit in pain as he felt his chest burning in pain.

"W-What's...going on..." Ichigo asked, exhaustedly.

"You're going to fight for me." A voice relpied, echoing throughout the darkness. Ichigo looked straight ahead of him as he suddenly recognized the voice, seeing the dark figure walking towards the two of them. Hollow bowed in respect until Grim was finally next to them.

"_Greetings, King."_ The hollow said, respectfully. Ichigo just glared at Grim, angry for all he's done.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo shouted. Ichigo gasped as the air was pushed out of him from his hollow's punch to his gut. He tilted his head down, trying to breathe in air again, and from the pain of his chest.

"_You will show respect when speaking to the new King!"_ The hollow shouted. Ichigo, still breathing heavily, tilted his head up as he looked at the hollow confused.

"New...King?" Ichigo asked. Grim just chuckled to himself.

"I was quite surprised you survived, after having a scythe stabbed into you. And for that reason, I have decided to have you working for me." Grim statted, causing Ichigo's eyes to go wide in anger.

"What? What the hell makes you think I'll ever work for you?!" Ichigo stammered.

"Oh, I don't plan on having you cooperate with me." Grim replied, growing a confused look on Ichigo's face. Suddenly, a strange symbol grew on the floor they were standing on. The circular outside of it was at least seven feet long and wide. Inside of the circle, there were two scythes that intersected with each other. Ichigo's eyes grew surprised as he recognized the symbol of the strange symbol: It was the same one that Orihime found on the medallion the other day. A bright blue light resonated from it as sparks began to grow around the ground. Ichigo suddenly screamed in pain as strokes of lightning struck both the chains, electrifying Ichigo in the process. He grunted a bit as he tried shrugging off the pain, but to no use. He looked back at Grim, one eye glaring at him.

"Y-You plan to...torture me until I cooperate?!" Ichigo shouted, grunting and gritting his teeth as the pain continued.

"Wrong, I plan on merging the stronger half with you." Grim replied. Ichigo looked at him somewhat questionabbly.

"Stronger...H..."Ichigo started, before widening his eyes at the realization as he saw his hollow smirking. He knew what he was planning on doing. He was going to try to merge his hollow with Ichigo, except this time Ichigo won't be able to fight back, because of the pain, and the chains.

"You bastard! Make it a fair fight and release me!" Ichigo demanded. He began to scream louder as the pain grew worse.

"_Oh don't worry. We simply need finish it up. It'll be all over soon..."_ His hollow statted, grabbing Ichigo's throat. Ichigo gasped for air as his entire body began to change to a form of white, originating from the neck. As he looked back, he saw parts of his hollow disappearing, and knew he was merging into Ichigo's body. Ichigo struggled with his bonds as he attempted to resist the merging between the two continued, but to no success. The merging eventually enveloped everything rising down to his neck, then started creeping up his neck. He glared at Grim, and what was left of hollow as he swore he would get them back for this.

"Welcome to darkness..." Were the last things Ichigo could hear Grim say before darkness engulfed every part of his soul.......

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At the same time, Orihime felt the tears rolling down from her eyes as she attempted to break free. All she wanted was to tell Ichigo something important, and she would never get to get that chance again. Her feelings were too wound up for her to even care about the fact she may or may not be killed now by the hollow. It's as if Ichigo's leaving ended the world around her, no matter how much she tried to shrug it off. Her eyes suddenly opened when she heard the hollow's scream in pain. She dropped to the ground as the hollow's arm was shot off, although it quickly regenerated within seconds. As Orihime and the hollow looked, they saw Ishida standing half way across the street, ready with another arrow.

"Let go of her!" Ishida shouted, firing another arrow striahgt at the hollow's head. Even as it's head burst from the arrow, it quickly grew right back together, catching Ishida by surprise. The hollow roared in anger as it began to charge straight towards Ishida at full force, ready to run him down. Ishida just smirked as he quickly jumped into the air, causing the target to miss by a long shot. As the hollow looked back in the sky, he saw an array of almost hundreds of different arrows all falling down towards it. The hollows screaming could be heard as limb after limb could be heard getting torn apart from the hollow, only leaving bits and pieces of it scattered within the end. Ishida quickly ran back over to Orihime as soon as he landed, helping her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Ishida asked. Orihime just looked down, not even able to talk after what just happened. "Orihime, what's wrong?" Ishida asked. He could see tears in her eyes as she looked back at him. She opened her mouth to reply, before the two of them looked back as they heard the sound of scruffling. Ishida's eyes widened as the bits left over from the hollow all started to merge into a black glob. _How can something come back together even when it's completely shreaded?!_ Ishida thought to himself. His eyes widened as he realized there was an attack coming from behind him. As he looked, he saw the severed arm of the hollow ready to pierce right through them, while the hollow itself was charging right towards them from the front. Ishida and Orihime nodded to each other as they both knew what to do. Orihime concentrated as she summoned a triangular yellow shield, blocking them from the arm's strike. At the same time, Ishida shot a massive burst from his arrows towards the hollow's legs, causing him to collapse on the ground, screaming in pain.

"Let's go!" Ishida commanded, grabbing Orihime's hand as the two of them ran from the quickly regenerating hollow. They ran for a few minutes, making sure they would at least get away from the hollow before they stopped. Whatever that thing was, it wouldn't just go down and die, and wouldn't simply give up and stop. It was just a killing machine with only one objective: destroy anything that poses as a threat.....

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Yamamoto starred out to the vast city of the entire Soul Society, and everything it stretched out too. To him, it was a marvolously big city, and quite the view from his window. To have discovered this thing nearly 2000 years ago, and being one of the oldest living spirits in all of Soul Society was quite a remarkable accomplishment. And yet, even with these vast goals and achievements, there was one thing that loomed over him, haunting him in a daunting past that wouldn't go away. Each time he saw a reflection of his scars, it brought pain to his heart, knowing that it was his own fault for the fact he had such injuries, many many years ago. It was a permanant scar of his deeds in the old times, and one he could simply not forget. He lost his sudden train of thought as he heard the doors slidding open. It was Kurostchi, walking into the room, seeming to be panting a bit out of breath.

"What seems to be the trouble, Kurostchi?" Yamamoto asked, curiously.

"Y-You have got to come...see this..." Kurostchi replied. Yamamoto usually wouldn't even partake in these investigations of Kurostchi, but whenever he was out of breath and panting, it was usually because he had something important to show the commander. Without any hesitation, Yamamoto quickly followed Kurostchi to the 12th division labs. What he saw in the testing chambers shocked him: With it's arm wrapped in chains, a hollow, with a mask that resembled much like the one that currently resided in the world of the living, was bound up as it roared in anger. Yamamoto's surprisement quickly switched to anger as he shot a death glare back at Kurostchi, which surprised the 12th division captain himself.

"Where did you find this hollow?!" The Yamamoto stammered, looking back at the roaring hollow. Kurostchi gulped a bit, not knowing he had angered the Commander so much.

"These different hollows have been appearing all around the living world. They've been killing vast numbers of our Shimigamis, and we don't even know how to kill them." Kurostchi replied. Yamamoto's gaze just stayed on the hollow. He knew to himself the only man capable of this type of power, yet he wasn't sure if 'he' was really back or not. Kurostchi jumped a bit as Yamamoto suddenly appeared inside the glass chamber, his Zanpakto unsheathed. In one quick burst of energy, Yamamoto released a humongous blast of spiritual flame from his Zanpakto, incincerating the entire hollow, and part of the room itself, into a firey blaze. Yamamoto suddenly appeared right in front of Kurostchi, causing him to jump again, with his sword sheathed.

"Tell every single Shimigami, Captain, Vice Captain, **everybody** to obliterate the hollow until there is nothing left! That is the only way to kill it!" Yamamoto said, quickly vanishing from the room. Kurostchi just blinked a bit, looking around and trying to figure out where the Commander would have gotten to. He sighed, however, deciding not to dwell on the subject, or face Yamamoto's anger...

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Nel's sadness echoed throughout the household. It was finally night and Ichigo wasn't home yet. The entire residence felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure diminish greatly, before mysteriously disappearing. Nel was usually more hopeful when it came to waiting for Ichigo to return, but it had been nearly four hours since then, and if he had to go to the Soul Society, he would've just called the home by then. Yuzu and Karin did their best to calm the sad Nel down, but the best results it brought was only sniffles with still a bit of tears.

"Nel, don't worry. Everything will be ok." Yuzu cooed, stroking Nel's hair gently as she sat on the couch with Karin right next to her.

"She's right. You know how Ichigo always comes back on top of things after all, don't you?" Karin replied, rubbing her head as well. Nel just sniffled as she held onto Yuzu's chest, sitting in her lap.

"But Itzy-Itzy-Itzygo's pwobably dead!" Nel cried. Yuzu and Karin felt worried about Ichigo as well, but were more worried about how they were going to calm down Nel. Usually in most cases, Kon would be in Ichigo's body and pretend to be him, and Nel was the only one at the time who thought it was still Ichigo, not really able to understand the whole Gikongai thing. It worked for practically a year until Nel accidently knocked the Gigai out of Ichigo's body, and cried through the entire night until Ichigo returned, thinking that she accidently killed him. Karin looked back at her father who just kept looking out the window to the outside. He's been standing there for almost an hour straight, as if he's starrin off into space.

"Hey dad, something wrong?" Karin asked. She waited for a few seconds for a reply before asking again, not getting one. "Dad!" Karin said louder, causing him to a jump a bit as he looked back.

"You say something?" Isshin asked.

"What are you starring off into? Ichigo will be fine, right?" Karin asked, trying to get a yes out of him as a way to help calm Nel down. Isshin grinned as he knew what she was trying to do.

"Of course he is." Isshin replied, putting on his jacket. Yuzu and Karin looked curiously as he opened the door.

"Hey dad, where you going?" Yuzu asked.

"Just to get a little fresh air." Isshin replied. Nel sniffled a bit as she climbed up to Yuzu's shoulder, laying her head down on it.

"W-W-Will you pwease...Make suwe Itzugo is f-f-fine..." Nel said, crying in between. Isshin just chuckled a bit to himself.

"Don't worry. I'll drag him home alive if I have too." Isshin joked, closing the door. Yuzu and Karin looked at the door , knowing that he was really going to go looking for Ichigo out in the city to see if he was alright. They looked back down at Nel as she yawned through her crying.

"Are you sleepy Nel?" Yuzu asked. Nel nodded a bit as she rubbed her eyes.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Karin asked. Nel's eyes opened wide as she through her tiny arms around Yuzu's neck.

"No no no! Pwease, don't make me sweep awone! I...I..." Nel cried, trying to finish her sentence. "I hate being awone!" Nel cried. Yuzu gently held her as she rubbed the back of her head gently. She looked back at Karin, wondering if they were thinking the same thing. As expected, Karin nodded back to Yuzu, who smiled a bit down at Nel.

"Do you want to sleep with us in our room Nel?" Yuzu asked. Nel sniffled a bit as she tried to keep herself from crying, with little success, but nodded yes. "Kay, let's go. You should've been in bed an hour ago anyway." Yuzu commented, as the two of them walked upstairs. Karin just smiled as she watched the two leaving before looking back outside worriedly. She knew that something happened to Ichigo as well, but as to what it was or if he's ok remained the question...

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ishida checked the corner of the street, trying to make sure the coast was clear. The hollow had been on their tail for a long time, and it didn't even seem to be getting exhausted. They were the ones getting exhausted from the continuous fighting, while the hollow only seemed to keep fighting, no matter how many pieces it was blown into. Ishida pressed against the wall as he saw the hollow walking down the street. The hollow looked in both directions before turning in the opposite direction, trying to figure out where the two went. After seeing the hollow left, Ishida sighed as he looked back at Orihime, who seemed to be slouched down against the wall, still with the same worried look as before.

"I think we lost him for the time being." Ishida said, kneeling. Orihime looked at him with a bit of concern.

"We have to get going though. I need to find Ichigo." Orihime replied.

"Look, whatever happened to Ichigo, he'll be fine. You know how he's always lived through his challenges, even if he was killed." Ishida said, trying to make Orihime feel better. Orihime gave off a slight smile as a sign of thanks, but went back to a frown as she looked down. Whoever it was that fought Ichigo was powerful, and even with Ichigo's abilities they seemed to have no affect on Grim whatsoever. The silence was broken however as the wall near them came crashing down. Ishida grabbed Orihime and ducked out of the way in time before the two were flattened by the debris. In the wall's place, the giant hollow was glaring down at them, roaring in rage.

"Damn it! Doesn't that thing ever take a break?" Ishida yelled, aiming his bow towards the hollow. Before he could fire, the hollow smashed his massive hand against Ishida, flailing him back against the wall.

"Ishida!" Orihime yelled worriedly, before the hollow's roaring caught her attention. Orihime shrugged off her feelings for the time being, knowing that she needed to focus on the problem at hand. She focused her thoughts the best she could as she aimed with her hands to focus her attack. "**Koten Zanshun** (Single Heavenly Cutting Shield)**-I reject**!" Orihime shouted, firing Tsubaki straight towards the hollow. The hollow roared as it was cut in half by Tsubaki, flying back to Orihime's braid soon after. Ishida rubbed his head as he looked back at the hollow, noticing how she cut it in half. It was to no use though as the hollow simply pulled itself back together, seeming to have no affect.

_Damnit! No matter what we do it won't die!_ Ishida thought to himself.

"Sing, Benihime!" A voice shouted out, catching Orihime's and Ishida's attention. Orihime quickly ran out of the way as a red beam of energy was slashed straight towards the hollow, splitting it in two sideways. Orihime breathed heavily a bit from nearly escaping the explosion. As they looked back at the source of the red beam, they weren't surprised when they saw Urahara standing on a lightpost above them.

"Well Orihime and Ishida, what's u...AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Urahara yelled, slipping on the lightpost and landing face first onto the cement pavement. Ishida and Orihime felt a sweat drop as they knew only someone this ridiculous would be their savior... "Oww...ok, that hurt." Urahara commented, as he rubbed his somewhat bleeding nose.

"Well...uhh...thanks Urahara." Orihime nervously said, still somewhat curious how someone so ridiculous saved them.

"Ahh, it was nothing. To be honest, I'm quite surprised you lived for as long as you did." Urahara replied, growing confused looks on Orihime and Ishida's face.

"What do you mean?" Ishida asked. Urahara tilted his hat up a bit as he looked at the two a bit more seriously.

"You haven't heard? Those hollows aren't regular hollows."

"We kinda figured that when they kept regenerating..." Ishida replied, mentally rolling his eyes as he remembered the fact he shot them over hundreds of times, yet they still didn't die.

"I mean really unregular. Everywhere, hollows have been showing up turning into these unstoppable killing machines. Soul Societies in disoray because these hollows regenerate even from the smallest of remains. If you blow off one chunk, cut it in half, or smash it to the ground, they'll keep coming back and fighting. And the worst part is, these hollows never run out of energy. They just keep coming back until the targets dead." Urahara replied. Ishida and Orihime grew quite surprised at the given information. They had no idea there was more than one of these types of hollows appearing around the world, and the fact Soul Society were having a problem as well was another problem. Thier conversation was cut short though as a Senkaimon gate appeared near them. Urahara grinned as he pressed his hat against his head a bit tighter as the portal opened. Orihime's and Ishida's eyes widened as they saw Yamamoto walking out of the portal. A hell butterfly flew out of the portal shortly right behind him as the portal closed.

"Well, what do I owe the honor of this, Commander?" Urahara asked. He noticed how Yamamoto's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at the three.

"Move!" He shouted, slashing his blade right towards Ishida and Orihime. They quickly ducked out of the way as they saw the burning flame of energy being blasted towards them. To their surprised, Yamamoto blasted at the hollow that lunged towards them as they were distracted by Yamamoto's appearance.

"Wow, thanks." Ishida said, surprised that he didn't even sense the hollow's attacking them.

"I take it you're here because of the hollows?" Urahara asked.

"I came here to speak with the one that released Grim from his imprisonment." Yamamoto replied, coughing a bit as he did. Orihime looked worriedly at him as he did, noticing how loud he was when he did.

"Are you ok?" Orihime asked. Yamamoto let out a sigh of relief after he finished coughing.

"Apparently my age is catching up to me." Yamamoto replied. As Ishida turned back around, expecting to see the hollows burning remains, his eyes widened at what was in it's place instead: swirling in a purple-like vortex, a strange light began eminating from it, catching the attention of the others.

"What is that thing?" Orihime asked, confused. As if to answer her question, the strange light grew a bit brighter before an image began to grow from it. Everyone gasped as they saw Grim through the image, smirking as he looked back at them.

"So, my guess was correct." Yamamoto statted, stepping closer to the screen. Grim just chuckled to himself before replying again.

"Ah Yamamoto, it's been awhile hasn't it?" Grim asked. "I'm quite surprised you actually figured out how to kill this hollow, then again I was hoping you would've done so sooner." Grim commented, quickly changing glances towards Orihime. "Hello Kassandra." Orihime could feel tears welling up inside of her, knowing that whatever it was that Grim was doing, he was also the one who took Ichigo. She has been so worried about Ichigo the entire time, even when she did her best not to show it.

"I'm not Kassandra, and where's Ichigo?" Orihime yelled, both angry and sad at the current predicament.

"Oh, do you wish to see him?" Grim asked sarcastically.

"Yes!" Orihime shouted. Ishida was quite surprised by her anger, never seeing this side of her before.

"Very well..." Grim replied, snapping his fingers. The screen moved until it showed Ichigo, who was tied up in the chains in his arms. Orihime's eyes widened at the sight.

"Ichigo!" Orihime shouted. A small smile grew on her sadened experession as the four of them saw Ichigo's head starting to lift up. Her happiness was cut short though at Ichigo's face, who looked just like his hollow side. She stood there, shocked in fear, at the sight of Ichigo like this. Ichigo chuckled mischeviously as he pulled the chains off with a large crackle of the chains breaking off. The hollow walked right next up to Grim, still smirking at the sight. "What have you done to Ichigo?" Orihime asked, dropping to her knees. Grim just chuckled a bit before he replied again.

"Oh, I don't know what you mean. You simply asked for Ichigo, all I did was simply give his dominant personality more power." Grim replied.

"What is it you ask for, Grim?" Yamamoto yelled.

"I have a fairly simple proposition: Simply surrender Kassandra and the world will be fine. But, if you try to refuse, I'll simply have to make an appearance, along with my...special guest." Grim replied as Ichigo took out his Zanpakto. In one burst of energy, Ichigo destroyed the communication between them and Yamamoto and the others. The others looked as they heard Orhime sniffling, tears rolling down her face and falling down her face.

"I...Need to tell him." Orihime stuttered. "I need to tell him...Something important." Ishida glared back at Urahara and Yamamoto.

"You both have explaining to do."

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**And....I think I'll stop there for the moment. Next Chapter, we learn Grim's secret past, and this mysterious Kassandra. A large battle will be taking place in a few chapters, so stay tuned till then. Also like to note, I'm going to try to add every single idea from other fanfics into this one. You'll see what I mean by that later in the chapters as well. For now though, read and review!**


	5. Grim's Past

**Episode 5: A Grim Past**

His real name was Grim Repaul. He, was the first person ever to become a Soul Reaper. Looking back on the day, I'm still in surprise that he managed to do what no one else could back then. He managed to fight through his hollowfication, not only achieving his hollow form, but also, within time, managed to learn the powers of every known Kido, Hado, and Spiritual attack, ever known to the Soul Society. His Shimigami clothing was also the first one to not be a Kimono. His entire outfit was like a giant black robe with a hood, covering his entire body except his hands, feet, and head. And he was the only one to use a Scythe as his Zanpakto. I was lucky as well. He saved me from hollowfying when I first met him. I was too stubborn about going onto the after life, not thinking there was such a place. I wanted to be with my family and friends, and never could bring myself to leaving them all behind.

"You're really stubborn kid." Grim commented, grinning a bit as he kneeled to the boy's hieght. The boy was about two feet tall, having light brown eyes, and wearing a traditional Japanese blue robe. The boy shook his head as tears rolled down his eyes. Spiritual chains covered around his body, covering around him and chaining him to the building.

"No!" The boy replied. "This is my family! If I leave them I could never see them again!" The boy yelled. As Grim looked at the hole in the boy's chest, he looked more closely as he saw it opening a tiny bit more, then shifted his gaze back at the boy.

"If you continue to stay here, you'll end up being consumed by hatred and die." Grim replied.

"But..." The boy shouted, about to reply again. He was stopped though as Grim shoved the hilt of his Zanpakto into the boy's chest. The boy echoed a scream in pain that could be heard by all spirits around him, and within the city. A white pastial feature began growing from the boy's hole, growing all around the boy's head. Grim scuffed to himself as he raised his hand to the boy's face, growing a bright green light that surrounded the boy as he screamed. The pain in the boy felt even worse than it did before, but was unable to scream any louder than he already could. Within the boy's mind, everything went blank as darkness began to surround him. A few hours had passed until the boy finally awoke. He squinted a bit as he leaned up with one arm, using the other to rub his eyes. As he looked around, his eyes widened as he saw Grim smiling a bit as he sat on the rock, looking back at the boy. "What did you do to..." The boy began to shout, jumping straight to his feet. He stopped though as he gasped, seeing the Kimono around him, and the sword attached to it.

"Congratulations kid, you pulled through." Grim said, patting the boy on the head. The boy looked up at him a bit confusingly.

"What did you do though?" The boy asked.

"I turned you into a shimigami. It was the only thing I could think of." Grim replied, walking towards the edge of the cliff that overlooked a small city. The boy ran a bit until he was standing right next to him. "Everyday, someone dies. There is no way to prevent that, but what's worse is that there is no way to prevent hatred from consuming them. Am I right?" Grim questioned, looking at the boy as his arms were in his sleeves. The boy just looked away a bit, not wanting to answer the question. "To be honest, I had a near death experience before I died. And at that moment, I saw a hollow was about to kill me. I was fortunate that the hospital managed to bring me back at the time, healing me from the poison." The boy looked up at him a bit curiously.

"What poison?" The boy asked.

"Lets just say never eat berries you find that are black." Grim replied. The boy felt a sweat drop from his head, already knowing that, but finding it somewhat awkward as to why someone would do that. "Anyway, she was also apparently a Shaman. She told me about how spirits were connected to this living world, and about the monsters that attempt to destroy them." Grim said, a little more seriously.

"What are the monsters?"

"These monsters are nothing but empty shells of anger. Their entire body is from anger itself, and it feels no remorse, feelings, or pain as it hunts. I decided to nick name them, hollows."

"...What does it hunt for?" The boy asked nervously.

"Us." Grim replied, giving him a cold stare that frightened the boy a bit. He simply chuckled to himself a bit as he saw the boy shaking. He gently laid his hand on the boy's shoulder, trying to help him calm down. "It's nothing to worry though." Grim commented, easing the boy's feelings a bit. "Ever since my near-death experience, I've been able to communicate with spirits. I could see them, and hear what they said. But that also left me wide open for hollows to kill me. Through my experience of trying to avoid capture, and even fight back against hollows. The experience has probably been what kept me alive even to this day."

"Wow..." The boy said, interested in the man's story.

"So now, we're Shimigami, death gods who shall swear to protect all those alive, and spiritual." The man said, kneeling to the boy's height.

"B-But I don't know how to fight..." The boy replied, a bit scared.

"That's why I'm going to teach you, kid. Now we're both the only spirits that can fight these hollows, creating a balance to all who live." Grim stuck his hand out in front of the boy. "Will you promise to help me, kid?" The man asked. The boy just looked at Grim's hand for a few seconds, nervous. He couldn't tell if he should go with the idea of what the man had told him, and was frightened at the thought of it himself. But he was also a bit angry about hollows who only kill for pleasure and food. Taking another minute to decide, the boy nodded his head as he shook the man's hand.

"Yeah, let's do it." The boy replied, excited.

"Alright." Grim replied, raising his hand cheering. "By the way, what is your name, kid?" Grim asked as he stood up again.

"I...Don't know..." The boy looked down at his own feet, aside from noticing the sandals, the fact his memory was at a lost. He simply shook his head as he couldn't think of anything. Grim rubbed his chin for a few seconds, feeling somewhat sorry for the boy, seeing how he lost his memory when he crossed over. He snapped his fingers at the thought of a solution.

"I got it! How about...Yamamoto?" Grim asked. The boy nodded happily in agreement. "And ki...I mean, Yamamoto, let's make a vow for all Shimigamis to uphold from this day." The boy looked at him curiously.

"What kind of vow?" Yamamoto asked. Grim held out his pinkie in front of the boy.

"That as soul reapers, we pledge to protect all souls, living and dead, from evil." Grim said, smilin a bit. Yamamoto nodded in agreement as he grabbed Grim's pinkie with his.

"Deal."

From that day forth, we've been friends ever since, almost like brothers. He taught me the ways of using my spiritual energy, and saving the lives of spirits. I wasn't the only one he created into a Shimigami, he saved countless spirits by transforming them into Shimigami, helping our cause in protecting the living world. Of course, wherever we went we moved as a group at the time, seeing how we never found the Soul Society yet. This went on for centuries to come, doing nothing but protecting the peace and the balance. Our journey stopped for a bit as we came across someone strangely. He had a strange bow, but shot out unusual arrows. Being his closest friend at the time, he commanded the rest of the group to stay back as we talked to the strange man.

"Hey there." Grim greeted, waving as he walked to the guy. The man appeared to be an indian, but had white long hair in a ponytail.

"Who you?" The man asked, trying best to match the English tounge.

"Uh...Me, Grim. This, squirt." Grim replied, pointing at me.

"Hey!" I stammered, hitting him a bit on his leg jokingly. Grim just chuckled a bit to himself, while the man just looked confused.

"Grim, Squirt." The indian replied, waving to each. I grunted a bit as he called me that, although it's humerous now when I go back to look at it.

"We uhh...interested in how you use bow." Grim said, trying to get the topic of the conversation. The indian looked at it as another spirit arrow grew in the center. He pulled the string back as he shot out a quick burst of spiritual energy, or riatsu, as Grim called it, going as fast as to breaking the sound barrier itself! I stood there with my mouth gapped open in surprisement.

"Me, Shaman. Me see spirits. Spirits come in need of help, bad spirits hurt others." The indian said, looking back at the two.

"Ah, and what you call arrows?" Grim asked. The indian looked at the arrows for a second before shrugging, looking back at the two. "Well...What name?" Grim asked.

"Me, Quincy." He replied, grinning a bit as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

"What, just Quincy?" Yamamoto asked. "Don't you have some last name or something?" Grim covered the boy's mouth, as his muffled talking grew a bit louder.

"You, forgive." Grim apologized, pointing at the boy who struggled to get Grim's hand off his mouth. "He, unpolite." The indian nodded as he accepted the apology.

"I go to other shamans. They need know how to fight like I." The indian said, as he began to walk away.

"Hey wait a minute..." Grim asked, putting his hand on Quincy's shoulder. "Perhaps we help each other." Grim said, catching the indian's interest.

"How?" He asked, turning around. Yamamoto gasped for air as he got the hand off his mouth, being able to breathe again, or at least to him he could.

"Yeah, how?" Yamamoto asked, curiously.

"Bad spirits out there. We fight spirits like you, but we not know how to fight like you. We help take to other shamans, and you teach how to fight." Grim replied. Quincy just seemed to stare at him for a few seconds before grinning.

"Me, agree." He said, shaking Grim's hand. And at that moment, the Quincys' were discovered. It was truely a peaceful moment between the Quincys' and the Shimigami to be honest. Sometimes I wished that peace like that could be around here still. And as such, for the next couple hundred years, we travled around, helping souls, and protecting hollows as before. Quincy taught what he could to Grim. Grim was the only one to ever be a Shimigami, yet still learn Quincy techniques. Even though Quincy tried to teach us, we were able to create spirit arrows like a Quincys', but that never had as much power as a regular Quincys', and that's just if they could create an arrow at all. Therefore, almost all Shimigami stuck with using shimigami related abilities only. After awhile, we all took our places around the world to protect the land from all harm. But the place we were sent to, it still makes me wonder if we went somewhere else, Grim could still be one of the nice guys...

The girl screamed in fear even after the hollow was destroyed. She had orange hair in a ponytail, and she appeared to be wearing a Japanese violet robe. She covered her crying face in her arms, still just compromising the fact she was dead and that she was being chased by what appeared to be a monster. Grim jumped down in front of the girl as he shook the blood off his scythe, then putting it away.

"Hey, are you ok?" Grim asked, putting his hand on the woman's shoulder. The woman looked at him in a saddened experession that seemed to just disappear.

"K-Kassandra." The woman replied back, standing to her feet.

"I love you..." Grim said in a zombie like state. Kassandra went wide eyed at what he just said, for any guy to say that admit it going way to fast.

"Excuse me?" Kassandra stammered. Grim shook his head a bit crazily before he got his focus back.

"I m-m-mean I love the...uhh way you're dressed! You're beautiful...I mean you're dressed beautiful I mean.." Grim kept studdering, trying to think of what to say. Kassandra just giggled to herself, finding it amusing to have someone so modest and seem like a complete clown.

"It's ok, I get what you mean." She replied, leaning her head against his chest. Grim blinked in shock too at the time. Being young as I was, I was quite surprised at what Grim did. He's been around for ages and never could find one lover. Don't get me wrong, he liked many woman, even loved a few, but he knew they would eventually die and forget about him. This was his actual chance to fall in love with someone that would know him back. I felt happy for him, I truely did back then. After a few more years, the two became even closer to each other, and what happened next shocked all of us.

"Grim! Grim! I have wonderful news. You're going to be a father!" Kassandra said, throwing her arms around his neck. Grim's eyes widened at what she said. He didn't know whether to be nervous, or really surprised by this.

"A-Are you serious? I'm going to be a dad?" Grim asked. Kassandra smiled as tears rolled down her eyes, nodding to reply.

"I know, I couldn't believe it at first either. But, after awhile I became surprised. I just had to tell you." Kassandra said. Her joy went to a bit of depression as she saw Grim still looking a bit unamused. "Aren't you happy?" Kassandra asked. Grim blinked as he snapped back into reality. He smiled again as he through his arms around her, pulling her closer to him.

"Yes, Kassandra. I'm the happiest any man ever could be." Grim answered, feeling a tear rolling down his eye. I smiled as I heard their predicament. Grim could finally live happily, even if death did befall him one day. I thought everyone was going to live happily, but that all changed after the baby was born. Kassandra was breathing heavily, and unable to slow herself down. Grim sat on his knees there with tears rolling down his eyes as he looked at her. I was holding onto the baby in the blanket as I stood a good distance away.

"Kassandra, what is wrong with you? Why won't you calm down?!" Grim yelled. He wasn't angry at the fact she was breathing so hard, it was because he was worried sick about her. Kassandra just chuckled.

"I-It's alright...The minute the operation...S-Started...I could f-feel myself...losing..." Kassandra replied, smiling a bit even with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Kassandra, stop saying that! You're going to be fine! I'll...I'll..." Grim said, trying to think of what to do. Even he knew he couldn't do anything at the time, unable to think of anything to save Kassandra's life.

"D-Don't cry...You're a grown man...Do I...Have to l-leave...seeing you like...this?" Kassandra asked, coughing a bit, and growing Grim's worry.

"No...You don't have to..." Grim said, rubbing his cheek against Kassandra's hand.

"H-How's our daughter...Yamamoto?" Kassandra asked, looking back at me. I smiled as I walked towards her, kneeling to let her see her little girl. She smiled as she brought her finger towards the baby a bit, seeing it asleep.

"S-She's beautiful..." Grim complimented, trying to ease Kassandra. Kassanda just chuckled a bit as she looked back at Grim.

"T-That's what you said when...I met you...Are you...cheating on me...already?" Kassandra joked. Grim just shook his head as the tears continued to roll down his face.

"No...Never..."

"Grim...I...Lo......." Kassandra never finished her sentence. Grim's eyes widened as he saw Kassandra's eyes go blank, all if any life completely vanished from it.

"Kassandra? Kassandra wake up. Kassandra!" Grim shouted, pushing her gently on her chest. "No...Kassandra wake up! Kassandra! You can't die! You're already dead! Stop joking around now! Stop it! **KASSANDRA**!" Grim shouted to the top of his lungs, as it began to rain outside of the hut. Hundreds of different shimigami were standing right outside of Grim's hut as it rained, all knowing the loss of Grim's only love. Yamamoto watched as Grim's head was crying on Kassandra's chest, mourning over his lost. Yamamoto looked down as he heard the baby crying as well. I looked at it as I felt one of my own tears roll down as well, feeling sorry for Grim's losses.

"Grim...your daughter." I told him, walking over to him as I kneeled, holding the baby out in my hands. Grim just remained silent for a few seconds before he finally stood, holding his daughter. Tears continued to roll down his eyes as he looked at his crying daughter, reaching her hands out towards her father. He held her closer as she leaned her against his chest.

"I know...I'm sad too...We both lost her." Grim said, whimpering a bit. "I promise...I will do anything...to bring her back...I will...I will..." He said as he walked outside of the hut, covering the baby under his kimono as he carried her. I didn't really think he'd be serious when he said he'd do anything. I thought he meant anything within his ability in order to bring her back. He kept trying to think of different things and doing different experiments in order to bring his lost dead back to life. None of them ended to succession. But his final experiment...I don't know if it would've worked, but that's when everything went wrong. There was an explosion in his hut when we heard it. The other shimigami and I ran to his hut as fast as we could. When we got there, his hands had turned completely black for a bit, before changing back to normal.

"Ohh...my head." He moaned, rubbing his head as he leaned up a bit.

"Sir, are you ok?" One of the other shimigami asked as he ran over to their leader. He held his hand out as he attempted to help Grim up. As Grim touched his hand, we all watched in horror as the manifestation of the shimigami began to go haywire. He exploded in a burst of spiritual energy, leaving nothing left but his clothes. Everyone, including Grim, were all in shock. The reisdue left over from the Shimigami was suddenly absorbed into Grim's hands as well.

"Wait, stop!" Grim shouted, trying whatever he could to stop the absorbtion. It did not though, and before he knew it, all the remaining spiritual energy that the other shimigami had within him was absorbed into Grim's body. Grim just stood there terrified for a few seconds before his experession changed to a little less stressed out. He felt completely regenerated, even stronger than he did before. He decided to experiment with this strange power by using it on hollows wherever he could find. But the hunger for spiritual power was too great. His sanity was tested as he kept trying different hollows, even trying ways to make hollows stronger, and then absorbing thier spiritual energy. He grew insane with hunger, wanting more and more spiritual energy. I managed to get a time to talk with him, and that's when we went our seperate ways...

"Look at me, Tiyu." Grim said, holding his baby daughter. He was wearing specially modified gloves he created himself a few days after the first incident so he couldn't take the chance of harming one of his fellow comrades on purpose. "Daddy is going to keep his promise. He's going to bring Kassandra back to life." Grim said, causing his hand to glow a very large green light. Tiyu just giggled as she looked at her father, even though she couldn't understand anything he was talking about. "I'm gonna take a few soulies, and then, I'll use them to bring your mommy back. It's like I promised." Grim's gaze suddenly shifted to the door as he felt my riatsu. I grew frightened as he burst the door open, looking at me. I backed up into a wall, not knowing what to do.

"I-I didn't hear anything, honest." I lied to him, which was obvious. He simply looked at me sternly before grinning.

"It's ok Yamamoto, we're buddies, remember?" Grim replied. I hesitated for a bit before nervously nodding. "I'm not going to hurt my buddy either. I'm just...borrowing a few spiritual energies from others...You'll see Yamamoto, I'll bring her back, I made a promise and I found a way to keep it!" He said, crazily.

"Grim, wake up!" I shouted at him, causing him to blink a bit confusingly. "Kassandra is dead, and even if there was a way, this isn't going to bring her back! You've grown an addiction to energy ever since your lab experiment! What happened to the Grim I used to know that allways loved to joke around, and was a kind and calm person?!" I breathed a bit heavily unable to realize how much I shouted. Grim looked down in his arms as the baby began to cry, then glared back at me. I gulped a bit nervously, not knowing what else to do. All at once, he grabbed me with his bare hands as I could feel the energy draining from me. The longer it continued, the wider Grim's grin grew, as if he was possesed himself. "G-G-Grim..." I said weakly, trying to get him to stop. He blinked suddenly as he realized what he was doing. He quickly let go of my neck as I plummeted to the ground. I suddely gasped as I was finally able to breathe again, rubbing my neck to get the air through a bit easier. He swiped his gloves back on, trying to not get another urge to repeat what he just did.

"I...I'm sorry." He apologized, walking quickly back into his room, and locking the door in place. I just continued to look in disbelief at what he almost did, knowing that he was starting to lose control over his addiction. I went everywhere I could and told everyone about what happened. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time, and that they were going to be able to help. But in the end, it turned out I was the fool the entire time. I ended up betraying him instead. The Shimigami revolted against him, thinking that he would destory anything to bring back his beloved.

**"You traitor! How could you do this to me?" The man shouted, who was up to his knees in the ground at this point. **

Those words keep echoing through my head even today. After they sealed him within the Earth itself, a bright white light began to grow as it eminated from the hole in the ground. It engulfed everything within practically a two mile radius. I don't know what happened, but when I awoke, I was bleeding all over. I had wounds that didn't ever seem to heal themself, no matter what I did, or what others did. I could tell the only thing protecting me from the blast was the shimigami who surrounded me at the time. If it wasn't for them, I'd be dead right along side them. As for Tiyu, I was just a kid, and knew nothing in taking care of a simply child. I found a very strong willed spiritual family, and one that could see us as well, and left it on their doorstep. And it was then, that I thought the nightmare was over............................

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"And it was because of Grim's over exsesiveness, and addiction to riatsu, we have given him the name, the Grim Reaper." Yamamoto said, finishing his story.  
Everyone remained silent from Yamamoto's story. They couldn't believe, or at least Ishida, Orihime, and Chad (who they called over after Yamamoto showed up), couldn't believe what a sad story Grim went through. To have tried anything to bring back a lost love was just too much to bear. Everyone was sitting in Urahara's appartment at the time as they sat around the big brown table. The only one who couldn't seem to focus on the story as much though was Orihime, still worried about Ichigo.

"So, if it's been almost a hundred thousand years, and he's been burried all this time, how can he be back?" Ishida asked. Yamamoto just coughed a bit before he responded.

"To be honest, it was most likely a gamble on his part. If I had anything to guess, only the blood of his own could have saved him." Orihime's eyes widened a bit at what he just said.

"Y-You mean...." Orihime studdered, unable to finish the sentence. Yamamoto simply nodded.

"Yes, he is your great relative." Yamamoto replied. Orihime was speechless as a blank look overcame her face. To be related to the one who was trying to hurt her, and almost killed Ichigo, it just tore her up inside. And now, haunting images of what happened a few days ago started creeping inside of her mind too. To think that this was all her fault to begin with, it almost made her go crazy at the thought of it.

"So, what do we do now? You know he'll attempt to take her by force if we don't cooperate, and we can't cooperate with him anyway." Ishida asked, knowing there was a point of logic in his saying. Yamamoto closed his eyes a bit as he went into thought. Ichigo was a very powerful Shimigami, even though he doesn't know how to control all of his power yet. But the only thing worse than that was the fact that his hollow had better control over it than he did, and it was going to destroy everything for it's master's plan. Meanwhile, Yoruichi looked intently at Orihime. She knew that Orihime had been keeping something secret the whole time, but she didn't want anyone to find out. Yet, even Yourihci knew she had to tell at least somebody.

"Say Urahara, can you come here please?" Yoruichi asked as they walked out of the room. Urahara looked a bit confused, but at the given situation thought it was important, and did as commanded. As soon as the door closed, Yamamoto's eyes opened again, catching everyone's attention.

"It's offcial then. I shall ask for the help of the 14th Division." Yamamoto said, finally coming up with an idea. The others looked at him somewhat confused, never hearing of this before.

"And...who or what is the 14th Division?" Ishida asked.

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"Are you sure?" Urahara whispered, looking surprised by the given info from Yoruichi. Yoruichi nodded.

"There's no doubt about it. I can tell." Yoruichi replied. Urahara very quietly opened the door a crack as he looked back inside the room, seeing Orihime who was still looking at Yamamoto's discussion. He soon closed the door back.

"But how can you tell? I can't see anything." Urahara complained.

"It's a girl thing. Look, I know you think I'm insane, but I know for a fact that Orihime is........."

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**Muahahaha! I shall end it there! What is Orihime's problem? I shall never tell! And I want no reviewing about what you think the answer is if you think you know. It'll be deleted. You can feel free to PM me though and send me what you think is wrong with her, and you'll find out if you're right in later chapters.**


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